The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) assured on Wednesday, Sept. 1, the assistance for the affected residents in areas that would be placed under the proposed granular lockdowns.
However, Malaya clarified that the DILG’s recommendation to impose granular instead of wide-scale lockdowns is still up for the final approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
He also confirmed that the general consensus among the different government agencies is to enforce granular lockdowns.
During the two-week granular lockdown, Malaya said that the national government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would provide aid for “the provision of food packs’’ to the public on the second week of the restriction with the local government units (LGUs) tasked to give their assistance on the initial week.
With regard to the contact tracing efforts, Malaya stated that President Duterte granted the P1.7 billion request of the DILG for the “re-hiring or extension’’ of service of the contact tracers up to December this year which should have ended in August.
He also called on the local government units (LGUs) to maximize their contact tracers after receiving reports that some of the more than 2,600 contact tracers in Metro Manila were assigned for the vaccination process which should not be the case.
The DILG spokesperson stressed that the contact tracers should be on active case findings especially in areas under granular lockdowns and should not be assigned for other purposes.
On the issue pertaining to the use of rapid antigen tests to improve the country’s coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) testing capacity, Malaya emphasized that the department has complied with the Department of Health (DOH) policy and several resolutions of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
Based on the DOH and IATF regulations, Malaya explained that rapid antigen tests may be used for the confirmation of suspected or probable COVID-19 cases and their close contacts as the LGUs were urged to utilize this method for case surveillance and active case findings. (Chito A. Chavez)